The Westin, Arisia's main hotel, will be charging a deposit of one night per room as we did last year. The deadline to cancel your reservation before being charged a non-refundable deposit is Saturday, December 9th. Please review your confirmation email from The Westin to confirm that the credit card you used to make the reservation is still valid.

All reservation holders should have received an email (to the email address used to make the reservation) with additional instructions should you need to change the credit card that will be billed the deposit. If you have not received an email, please contact the Innkeeper Staff at @email.

If you have a reservation at an overflow hotel, you will not be charged this deposit. If you have any other questions about the deposit policy, please see our FAQ at http://www.arisia.org/HotelDepositFAQ.

One Hundred Volunteers!

Thanks to our generous members, we found 100 volunteers who offered to move their reservations from The Westin to the Aloft. As a result, no one else will need to move. We are thrilled that our community pulled together to deal well with this unexpected event. Thanks also to the many staff and volunteers who worked with our attendees and the two hotels to make this possible.

Membership Rates Increase January 1st

To register, or confirm you have a membership already - for example, from volunteer hours last year - visit Arisia's registration site (reg.arisia.org). There you can also verify your contact information, badge name, and security question, as well as agree to abide by the Code of Conduct. Doing this in advance will speed up badge pick-up at con.

Pre-Registration Rates
Now through 12/31: $60
After 12/31 and at the door: $70

Arisia has expanded its social media presence to include Instagram. Our Photos area head already has several shots from past years online there and you'll find more as we approach Arisia 2018. For daily photos throughout the year and a flurry of real-time updates during the con follow @arisiainc at https://www.instagram.com/arisiainc/

Arisia Has a Survey for You

Arisia has a new way to hear the opinions of our attendees - that's you - a survey. You could be eligible for any of ten $20 gift cards to MJ O’Connor’s, the restaurant in the Westin. Here's what you need to do:

The survey can be completed anonymously and you can still enter the raffle - the survey code is not tied to any particular set of answers.

GOH Spotlight: Ashe SamuelsArtist Guest of Honor

One of the reasons we invite Guests of Honor to Arisia is to give people that we admire a platform. We want to honor them, introduce more people to them, and provide them a means of promoting their work. Often this is given to people who have a long history of accomplishments; several books or series, a storied history in fandom, or a career’s worth of art to display. But you know what? It’s also really important to showcase and recognize the up-and-coming bright stars, the ones whose debut pieces just blow you away.

Ashe's cover art for Power and Magic: The Queer Witch Comics Anthology is one such piece. To say that her work embodies the spirit of Black Girl Magic is an understatement - the power woven into every piece that Ashe creates is unmistakable, the emotional reactions it creates unavoidable. And it is every bit as worthy of honoring as an artist who has been showcasing their art for a few decades.

Ashe is new to the fan convention scene, but we hope that you welcome her with open arms and show her just how awesome this community can be.

New Concerts This Year

Arisia Events are excited to present four new-to-Arisia groups in concert. We hope you will enjoy them as much as we do.

Following Glass Mannequins, at 2 pm Saturday, on the Second Stage, from Albany, New York will be Geek Musica, a classical music ensemble specializing in the performance of film and video game scores. Geek Musica's mission is to share the beauty of classical music as broadly as possible by mining the vast and unique landscape of video and MMO games, television, and film, and thereby to inspire nascent classical musicians of every age.

Performing on Arisia’s Second Stage on Saturday at 7:30 pm; from Kansas City, and coming to Arisia straight from MAGFest in DC, emcee and trombonist Kadesh Flow brings realism, consciousness, and nerd life together in riveting flow format. An active member of the Nerdy People of Color Collective, he has composed and produced original music for Toonami Asia and shared the stage with artists such as Tech N9ne, Phora, I Fight Dragons, The Revivalists, B.o.B., and mc chris.

The Vox Hunters (Armand Aromin & Benedict Gagliardi) are seekers and singers of old songs, tireless multi-instrumentalists, and a driving force of traditional folk music in Rhode Island. With fiddle, concertinas, banjo, and a pair of complementary voices, they present an exciting repertoire of driving dance tunes mixed with a delightfully eclectic selection of traditional songs. Touted as strong tradition-bearers in their generation, they treat the music as a communal good more than a profession. The Vox Hunters concert will be Sunday, 1 pm, on Arisia’s Second Stage (Grand CD).

Get Your Flu Shot

If you are able to get the flu shot, now is the time to do it for maximum protection at Arisia. The flu shot can take a few weeks to reach full effectiveness. The CDC is recommending this year that people get the injected vaccine rather than the nasal. Read more on their site at https://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/keyfacts.htm

Volunteer

Arisia needs you! Arisia staff members and volunteers are a vibrant and diverse group of people from all walks of life. We work hard, play hard, and bring our creative best to make Arisia happen every year. Our convention changes each year as new staff join. We try to be inclusive and open to new ideas. We benefit from new perspectives, and that's where you come in.

To grow our convention and make Arisia better, we need new faces. We need volunteers to help us move forward, build bridges, discover whole new fandoms, and go where no con has gone before.

Join us on this journey. Arisia is a 100% volunteer-run convention. If you like what we’re doing, if you’re having a good time, help us make it even better.